{"id":2719,"date":"2024-08-24T15:08:28","date_gmt":"2024-08-24T15:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2719"},"modified":"2024-10-13T18:54:57","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T22:54:57","slug":"night-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/24\/night-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Night Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Night Game <\/strong>(1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trans World Entertainment\/Suspense-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 92 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, brief partial nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Peter Masterson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Spencer Eastman and Anthony Palmer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Pino Donaggio\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Fred Murphy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 15, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Roy Scheider, Karen Young, Richard Bradford, Paul Gleason, Carlin Glynn, Lane Smith, Anthony Palmer, Alex Morris, Matt Carlson, Rex Linn, Alex Garcia, Michelle Cochran, Tony Frank, Kevin Cooney, Lisa Hart Carroll, Renee O\u2019Connor, Dee Hennigan, Sarah Chattin, Bethany Wright.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $337,812 (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s a few things about Night Game<\/strong> that will surely be of interest to trivia buffs:<\/p>\n

– The crime thriller represents a Jaws reunion of sorts in that it stars series alumni Roy Scheider of 1 & 2 and Karen Young of Jaws: the Revenge. I guess nobody from Jaws 3D was available to complete the ensemble.<\/p>\n

– The two titles showing at the cinema where Scheider drops Young\u2019s character, Full Moon in Blue Water and Kansas, were both released by Trans World Entertainment. In addition, Full Moon was also directed by Peter Masterson. Can you say \u201cshameless self-promotion\u201d?<\/p>\n

– If the Houston Astrodome looks familiar to non-sports fans, that\u2019s because it\u2019s where the Bad News Bears played the climactic game in Breaking Training. Come on, let\u2019s hear it…… \u201cLet them play! Let them play! Let them play!\u201d<\/p>\n

– Co-star Carlin Glynn also starred in the original Broadway production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas which was co-written by her husband Masterson.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s quite possible that none of the above will be of interest to anybody since almost nobody remembers Night Game<\/strong>, a standard-issue police thriller about a Texas homicide detective on the hunt for a serial killer. It didn\u2019t exactly hit a home run during its brief limited theatrical run in mid-September 1989. It didn\u2019t even make it to first. I know it didn\u2019t open here in Philadelphia. I had to wait until it came out on video the following summer to get my turn at bat.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m sure my frequent baseball references haven\u2019t escaped your notice. That\u2019s because America\u2019s favorite pastime plays a significant role in Night Game<\/strong>. A series of gruesome killings have the citizens of Galveston all shook up. The governor\u2019s office is all over the local police chief (Bradford, The Untouchables) to solve the case quickly. Detective Mike Seaver (Scheider), a former minor league player, is determined to catch the killer. He\u2019s hampered in his investigation by the sheriff\u2019s department and the governor\u2019s office, represented respectively by Broussard (Gleason, Die Hard) and Witty (Smith, Over the Edge). Eventually, he figures out the killings are somehow connected to nighttime home games played by the Houston Astros.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Murder isn\u2019t the only thing on Seaver\u2019s mind. His upcoming wedding to fiancee Roxy (Young) has been hijacked by her meddling mother (Glynn) trying to turn it into the social event of the season. All the couple wants is a simple ceremony followed by a small party, but that\u2019s not good enough for the bride\u2019s high-maintenance mama who makes no attempt whatsoever to hide her dislike of Seaver. It sounds to me like he\u2019s safer facing off against a psycho killer than a psycho future MIL.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s nothing especially outstanding or even original about Night Game<\/strong>. It\u2019s the same old story about a burnt-out cop trying to nab a serial killer even though the odds are clearly stacked against him. Seaver used to be with Dallas PD, but some unspecified thing happened that caused him to get sent down to the minors. The plot is laden with the usual false leads and red herrings. The climax has Roxy being pursued by the killer while Seaver races to save her. And so it goes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Masterson, whose directorial credits also include 1985\u2019s The Trip to Bountiful (co-starring wife Glynn), does a decent job with Night Game<\/strong>. The screenplay by Spencer Eastman and Anthony Palmer is strictly by-the-numbers, but Masterson\u2019s capable handing of the material makes it seem less so. He doesn\u2019t tip his hand too early in revealing the killer\u2019s identity or motive. He takes the audience on a familiar ride through dead ends and possible but unlikely suspects until reaching a destination you might or might not seeing coming. I didn\u2019t see it coming myself, but it has been more than 30 years since I saw the movie. I honestly didn\u2019t remember much about Night Game<\/strong> which is partly why I decided to rewatch it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ll say this for Night Game<\/strong>; it has a great cast. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen Roy Scheider give a bad performance. I can\u2019t think of a single instance where the late actor didn\u2019t bring his A-game. And I\u2019m talking more than the movies he\u2019s most known for- The French Connection, Jaws 1 & 2 and All That Jazz (he should have won Best Actor for it). If you haven\u2019t already, check out Sorcerer, Last Embrace, 52 Pick-Up, Cohen and Tate and The Fourth War. All GREAT! Young is good as Roxy, a woman clearly too young for Scheider\u2019s character. She doesn\u2019t like taking a back seat to his job and shows it by going to a local dive where she flirts and dances with other men. Gleason excels at playing a**holes and his character here is just that. He\u2019s the kind of guy you just want to slap the s*** out of (to misquote 52 Pick-Up).<\/p>\n

\u00a0The score by Pino Donaggio is another plus. While not as awesome as the one he composed for The Barbarians, it\u2019s still good. It ratchets up the suspense quite effectively.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m fascinated by nearly all aspects of film and one of my greatest areas of interest is the small fly-by-night studios that came and went in the 60s, 70s and 80s. One of them is Trans World. They were around for roughly ten years (1983-93) until they got involved in a scandal that ultimately brought about their death-by-foreclosure. In that time, their output included such titles as Creature (the Alien rip-off), Pray for Death (another Sho Kosugi ninja flick), The Curse (the icky sci-fi-horror starring Wil Wheaton), Killer Klowns from Outer Space (the cult classic), Teen Witch (no relation to Teen Wolf) and Honeymoon Academy (the Gene Quintano spy comedy with Roberts Hays and Kim Cattrall). Night Game<\/strong> is another one of theirs. Why would I be telling you any of this if it wasn\u2019t?<\/p>\n

\u00a0All in all, Night Game<\/strong> is a pretty good flick. It brings nothing new to the genre, but it has a compelling story, a cool cast and a few good kill scenes. It\u2019s a good way to kill a couple of hours when you\u2019ve nothing better to do.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Night Game (1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trans World Entertainment\/Suspense-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 92 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, brief partial nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Peter Masterson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Spencer Eastman and Anthony Palmer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Pino Donaggio\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Fred Murphy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 15, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Roy Scheider, Karen Young, Richard Bradford, Paul Gleason, Carlin Glynn, Lane Smith, Anthony Palmer, Alex Morris, Matt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Night-Game-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2719"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2861,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2719\/revisions\/2861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}